All Over the Place

Please excuse any typos you see here. Quinn got to my laptop and managed to pry one of the letters off the keyboard, and I’m not sure yet if there’s been any other damage. The good news is that I get to blame any editing errors on that–it’s my keyboard, honest! It’s so screwy it spelled the word “weird” incorrectly! Can you believe it?!

I totally just spelled “weird” incorrectly when I typed that. See?

Took the girls to see some trains today at our local science and arts center. There was a hearing going on in the city related to a certain child molestation scandal in college sports–you may have heard about it–so we were fully expecting a media-infested swarm, but alas, we avoided it. Is it irony, that I was taking my innocent children to go see the wonder and merriment of a holiday display–the magic! the beauty!–when two blocks over there were grown-ups discussing things that other awful, awful grown-ups (allegedly, yeah, yeah) did to other young ones? I don’t like to think about it. Do you ever wish you could just wrap up the kids in the world and keep them in a happy little cocoon? Bad things should never happen to children. And that, my friends, is the understatement of the year.

But back to the trains. SK and the Mighty Quinn ran around that place like a pinballs racking up points. My youngest daughter, heretofore known as Godzilla, managed to knock down two fences surrounding the displays and crawl under another. I used to think the kid had a future as an investigative journalist or a CIA operative. Now, I’m thinking Navy SEALs. The girl’s got some skills. Are there women SEALs? Is it odd that I have to ask that?

Quinn ran herself silly, clapping like Kim Kardashian in front of a jewelry display, as quickly as a person who’s only been walking for a month can run (she’s pretty good, though. All that time in preparation has paid off). Most of my photos of her are fuzzy because she was running too quickly for my camera to focus. And Saoirse? Oh, my Saoirse. That child planted herself on a bench staring up at a huge 3D video model of the planets, and just stared at the thing for 15 minutes, listening to the narrator teach his listeners about the universe. When I asked her later to tell me her favorite part about the morning (expecting, of course, Thomas/the trains/the lights/the glitter on that one Christmas tree and why can’t we have glitter like that?), she just said, “our Earf.” That’s “our Earth,” for those of you who don’t speak three-year-old.

This has been a month of some mini epiphanies for me, from a variety of reasons. I’ve realized that most people are better than we might think–that humans do, really, truly, want to be good, even when life and their very human nature gets in the way of that. I’ve learned that it’s funny how when we truly accept a person for what he or she is–when we don’t see a person as how we want to see him or her, and get frustrated when he/she doesn’t fit that mold–then relationships tend to become a lot simpler, a lot easier, and way more fun. And that things work out. Awful things happen, the unexpected occurs, but that we just have to keep following the path we’re on, and trust in our own two feet. There will always be a corner to turn, or a horizon to meet. There’s always blue sky right above those awful dark clouds, you know. We just can’t see it all the time.

So, here’s my “just chill” list for you: Get more sleep. Just go to bed an hour earlier tonight. I probably won’t, but you can. Drink more water. Just make sure there’s a bathroom close at hand all the time. Exercise. Again, I probably won’t until after the holidays, but you should. Endorphins are like healthy crack. And if you’re religious, remember what Padre Pio said: pray, hope, and don’t worry. If you’re not of the spiritual sort, that last two are probably still pretty good.

I have laundry to do. And baking. And cleaning and organizing and shopping and child-rearing and marriage-fostering and my daily freak-out about this strange, odd culture of the stay-at-home parent and will I ever find time to carve a chunk of a day to follow my own dreams while I also encourage everybody around me to chase hers? But I took my daughters to go see the trains today. There’s something calming about watching the little engine whip around the track. No wonder Thomas and his constant “peep! peep!” are so popular. It’s all about following the track and just making sure you’re useful while you’re on it. Just please don’t do the “peep! peep!” sounds. That drives me bonkers.

Okay, enough philosophizing. Quinn fell asleep in the 15 minutes it takes to get home from the science center, and is too busy fussing to settle back down (of course SK is asleep, though. She always does when Quinn doesn’t. There are seriously only 20 minutes of each day between the hours of 6:45 and 7:30 when I don’t have to interact with anyone. I think that’s why I’m always encouraging David to play basketball on his rec league nights. Momma likes some silence once in awhile, you know?) So I have to go do my mom thing and, like, make a snack or something.

But you? Enjoy your day. And go to bed early tonight, okay? That way tomorrow is even better. Peep, peep.